VxWorks and Linux for automation systems

Hi,

My group has been using VxWorks for the last 6 years, and we're considering switching to Linux.

Advantages of VxWorks are very good performance - hard or near hard real time, and excellent tools.

The biggest disadvantage is a very high price.

Thanks,

Evgeni

I had some experiences with vxworks 10 years ago.

While the core kernel parts aren't too bad, a lot of the network code seemed to be 'tick-box' ports of code that would expect to run in a non-preemptive unix kernel with a defined user-kernel boundary to cross. this meant there was a LOT of missing locking.

Also while vxworks is expensive, the support (for real bugs) wasn't that good. I rather got the impression that the development group released software using a large trebochet, and that the support group were outside the wall. I had some binary patches I applied after loading the code, but it was almost impossible to get the fixes into the 'next version'.

The main problem with linux is the GPL.

Almost all the board code I've written (mostly network stacks of some form) runs without a commercial OS.

@dsl,

In my experience, VxWorks support got even worse after WindRiver was acquired by Intel in 2009.

To mitigate Linux GPL licensing issues, we're also looking at FreeBSD. It has more commercial-friendly licensing terms.

Thanks,

Evgeni

Or NetBSD (says the NetBSD developer!)

Sensible changes to the main source tree are likely to be accepted (saving repeated porting work), while allowing 'commercial' code to linked into the same binaries.

I will try again to upload this video link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhudvva7mkw

I want to know what are the tools and functions that VxWorks software or in Linux software have that the others software usually don't have and with these tools and functions the programmers can program in easier way the automation system that is in the video link that I try to upload.

In this moment the disadvantages of VxWorks or Linux don't interesting me.

I will glad if you can added some useful links about program in VxWorks or Linux that are related to things that are program in the automation system that is in the video link.